Was the season 3 story supposed to be season 2?

The end of the first season T's up a storyline in Russia, which the show is now doing in season 3. But instead, we took a detour to Venezuela with some clunky story beats and clumsy dialog sweeping that angle away. But here we are now, picking that thread up again. That and season 2 being a mess in general, it's like they cobbled that together real quick as a place holder. Curious thing to put the brakes on considering the playout of real world events.